Information, Risk, and Operations Management

Overview

The Texas McCombs doctoral program in IROM focuses on training future researchers in the areas of decision science, information systems, operations management, and statistics.

The Ph.D. program in Information, Risk, and Operations Management includes four different areas, all focused on business applications: Data Science, Information Systems, Operations Management, and Statistics. Students have significant flexibility to shape their own program, and may take courses and select their doctoral committee members from a broad interdisciplinary spectrum. 

Each of these areas has specific course requirements. These requirements include required courses, common to all students in each area, elective courses tailored to accommodate the course of study of individual statements, and dissertation writing courses. Students are encouraged to interact with faculty and students from all the areas on a regular basis. Most of the courses for graduate students are small seminar courses, usually five to ten students, providing in-depth study and close faculty contact.

Student progress is assessed in terms of competence in theory, practice, and research skills essential to each area. Each area assess performance based on course grades or a qualifying exam at the end of the first year, and based on a paper or an oral exam by the end of the second year or beginning of the third year of study. Students are encouraged to become involved with research projects as soon as possible. Faculty and students in one of the areas in IROM work closely with colleagues from other areas within IROM and from colleagues from other departments in the college and university, including computer engineering, computer science, economics, law, management, marketing, mathematics, operations research, psychology, sociology, and statistics and data science. 

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Areas of Specialization

Decision Science

Students in the Decision Science area focus on managing risk and developing "application-driven theory" in response to real-world problems. The faculty works on decision making under uncertainty; quantitative finance and numerical methods for solving financial models; risk management in the area of insurance; and on statistical models, machine learning, data analytics, and data mining.

Information Systems

Students in the Information Systems area focus on understanding the impact of information technology on individuals, organizations, and society. The faculty works in areas such as economics of digital products, digital marketplaces, social media, strategic IT management, business value of IT, virtual teams and collaboration technologies, healthcare IT, data mining and business analytics, artificial intelligence, blockchain, Internet of Things and design science using methods including econometric analysis, machine learning, experiments, qualitative research, and mathematical modeling.

Operations Management

Students in the Operations Management area learn how to develop and apply analytical and empirical models and methods to address strategic and operational issues in areas such as supply chains, manufacturing, services, healthcare, sustainability, not-for-profit operations, pricing, revenue management, project management, and product design. To conduct research in these areas, students are trained in various methodologies including optimization, economics, stochastic models, statistics, econometrics, and simulation.

Statistics

Students in the Statistics area focus on the theory and methods of statistics with a special emphasis on business applications. Students are exposed to both Bayesian and classical approaches to inference and modern computational statistical tools. Several of the courses taken by students in the area are shared with the Department of Statistics and Data Sciences. The main difference between the programs is the strong emphasis on business applications. 

Preparation and Qualifications

Prospective applicants are required to hold a four-year bachelor's degree (not necessarily in the area of study) or equivalent prior to starting the program.

See Admissions for further information.

Placement

We prepare you to become an intellectual leader. The primary goal of the Texas McCombs Ph.D. program is to prepare students for academic careers. Over the last five years, McCombs IROM Ph.D. alumni have been placed at:

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Current Students and Job Market Candidates

Decision Science
Rohit Arora
Paul Cronin
Zhi Wang
Yuxin Zhang*

Information Systems
Vasundhara
Wanxue Dong
Ruijiang Gao
Tianjian "TJ" Guo
Zhuroan Jiang
Aditya Karanam
Haris Krijestorac*
Xiaofan Li
Haoyuan Liu
Junjie (Henry) Qian
Cenying (Tracy) Yang*

Operations Management
Julius Barth
Hale Erkan 
Ozge Ersoy
Parshuram Hotkar*
Jingyao Huang
Yixuan Liu*
Paola Martin
Tan Wang
Zijian (Jacob) Zeng
Pengfei Zhang 

Statistics
Alek Dimitriev
Pedro Filipini Dos Santos
Yilin He 
Quan Zhang*

*indicates job market candidates

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Are You Ready to Change the World?

Texas McCombs Doctoral Program is seeking individuals who are interested in transforming the global marketplace. Are you one of these future thought leaders?

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